


The Stench of the Flesh and the Lonely

by HappyMadFace



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Also I made up voots need gas or something, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Crying, Dib gets fucking shanked, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Takes place a few years from canon, ZADE, ZADF, ZaDr, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, and... m a y b e..., but he’s fine I swear, but nothing explicit, they prolly don’t but I’m not very smert, zim is like whore please get in my space ship, ‘tis but a scratch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29332362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyMadFace/pseuds/HappyMadFace
Summary: As a last resort to the growing zombie apocalypse before them on Earth, Zim decides to spare Dib and offers to take him with him off Earth.Though, Dib declines, opting to looking for his father and sister he’s lost within the outbreak’s scuffle.Will the pair make it out alive? Will they learn more about themselves? Why is Zim even helping Dib in the first place? And my GOD Gir is probably having a zombie-rave party during the majority of this story-
Relationships: Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	1. The Journey Begins

**Author's Note:**

> HA! THAT'S RIGHT, AFTER FIVE MONTHS I'M BACK! YOU WANNA KNOW WHY??? I WAS MAKING THIS SHIT! I noticed I never end up finishing multi-chapter works... SO I WROTE THE MAJORITY IT ALL BEFORE POSTING, HA! HAHAH I AM SO SMART, SEE?! My little dumb dumb brain doesn't like big scary slow-growing character development but I did it ;)

It has been four days since this virus has gone off the rails. Four days since that fateful Saturday and four days since Zim has dared to go outside. Every time Zim gets the courage to even think about going out, he sees a ghastly undead creature and darts back to his base. These stupid humans should have found a cure by now! Gah, why are they so incompetent?! Zim paces around his living room deep in thought.

If this virus is to continue for any longer, Zim would have to leave the planet. As much as he wanted to prove himself as an invader and serve the empire, he couldn’t work in these conditions. He would simply, erm, wait this all out elsewhere.

Suddenly, Gir came running into the living room. He was holding a bowl full of what looked to be Tostitos covered in… mayonnaise? The robot hops over to the Irken, tugging on his uniform. He then lifts up the bowl, offering them to the alien. “Mmm?”

Zim cringes a bit, antenna pinning to his skull. Though, he still appreciates the robot's gesture and is honestly glad to have him here. Even if he’s more trouble than he is helpful. “No, Gir.”

The sir unit shrugs, opting to down the whole bowl in one go. Tostitos overflow his mouth. Mayonnaise leaks from the sides of his face. It is disgusting.

Gir somehow managed to swallow the chips, and then sits on the tiled floor. “We need more foods.”

Zim rubs his temple in frustration, “We can’t get any more food, Gir.”

“Why?”

“Wh- BECAUSE OF WHAT’S HAPPENING OUTSIDE!!”

Gir hops up from his spot on the floor and runs up to the front door, opening it and looking around at the seemingly normal day. “I don’t sees nothin’.”

Zim acts quickly, and hastily slams the door shut and drags the robot back into the base. “Gir! Never do that again. And it’s not the outside that is wrong, it’s the stupid humans. They’re not... right .”

“Awws… theys probably just need a pencil sharpener. Sometimes when I’m sad I just need to get mes a milk carton and sharpen, y’know?”

Zim’s groans in irritation, not even bothering to try and understand the robot’s insanity.

“I hope Mary’s got his milk carton…” Gir sighs in a sad tone.

Zim’s antenna perk up slightly at the name mentioned. Mary… Dib! Gosh, what on Irk could have happened to his arch-rival?! Was he still alive? Was he ok? Zim was once again deep in thought until he heard a shrill scream come from beside him and winced.

“ I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! ” Gir bounced over to the sofa, now entranced by a television that wasn’t even plugged in.

Zim rolls his eyes. The human’s primitive power supply has shut off, leaving only his base’s small power generator. He’s tried to refuel his ship by recharging it with the already-existing power, but his computer keeps saying the “power is insufficient”. According to Zim’s calculations, he should have enough fuel to fly himself out of this galaxy and into a nearby one with a refueling site. From there he should be good. So… what was holding him back?

Zim kept his eyes glued to his feet for a moment, before putting on his disguise and rummaging for the exit.

“Gir! I need you to watch the base. Don’t let anyone in!!! Especially the sickly humans... I’m trusting you Gir.”

To Zim’s relief, the Sir unit stood on the couch, turning to him and saluting in a bright red. “Yes my master!” He then turns back to his usual cyan and sits, watching the blank television.

———

The Membrane house usually looked futuristic and sleek, stunning anyone who happened to lay their eyes on it. People would walk by and chatter, “You can tell Membrane lives there.” or, “ I wonder what kinds of amazing things are being conceived in there.” Well, Zim never thought anything special of the house. If anything he thought it was stupid and pointless. What good is a base with such limited security systems? If Zim thought the house was boring then, he definitely thought that now.

The house looked vacant and dull under the slowly-rising morning sunlight. The windows were blacked out and the fence systems were off, which zim assumed was because the humans pitiful excuse of a power source was out. Another reason why Irkens are superior, Zim practically cackles to himself. Dib would have smacked him if he were here. Speaking of which the house did look rather lifeless, which was to be expected, but what if Dib wasn’t here? What if he had gone somewhere else with his “dad” and scary sister? Or even worse… what if he…

Zim shook his head to clear his thoughts. He goes in, he gets Dib, he comes out. That’s what he needs to do now. That’s the plan.

Zim swivels around from behind the trash bins, looking around at his surroundings. The streets were unnaturally empty, lacking their usual liveliness. And, well, lacking any UN liveliness as well. Er... those creatures.

After confirming that the coast was indeed clear, Zim removes himself from his hiding place beside the trash cans and hastily sprints over to the Membrane residents. He skips the doorknob. Not just because it’s inconvenient, but because he was sure if Dib was here he would be sure to keep it locked.

The alien scales the wall with his pak legs with ease, not really caring if anyone were to see them in the open. He was sure the humans had much bigger problems to deal with at the moment. 

Zim silently slinks through Dib’s bedroom window with ease. It was strange how Dib never locked his window. He knew how easily it was for Zim to get in, yet it still remained untouched. In fact, Zim has used it as an entryway for a while now, always earning a scowl from Dib and a quick rant about “privacy” almost directly after. But still… it remained unlocked. 

Zim surveys the room around him. It really hasn’t changed at all from its usual messiness. Laundry was thrown about, along with books and energy drinks. The invader cringes at the mess before him. Humans truly were disgusting and untidy, especially Dib. But that’s beyond the point! Dib wasn’t here.

Zim scoffs in annoyance and promptly turns for the hallway. He stands there for a moment, letting his boots scuff the carpet and make low footsteps. His antenna detects a quiet shuffle from downstairs, and he quirks a metaphorical brow before heading down the flight.

When the alien gets the bottom of the stairs, he cautiously takes in his surroundings. The front door seemed to be blocked with various random things from around the house. Zim traveled up the corridor to the kitchen to find the same treatment done to the back door.

Not even before he can process another thought, a loud bang is heard behind him. He swiftly turns to face his offender before he’s tackled to the ground. He lets out a groan of pain, and then opens his eyes back up to see a very familiar-looking and surprised Dib.

“Zim?!” Dib gasped in awe. 

“Yes yes, I know, Zim is amazing. Now get off of me worm-boy!” Zim seethed, though was silently relieved at the boy's presence.

In fact, Zim was even more relieved to see him all in one piece. He looked like he was alright, physically at least. Humans were always weird mentally, Zim knew from experience with the Dib-thing. The kid before him wore his usual attire: trench coat, t-shirt and jeans, sneakers, glasses, and his signature scythe-like hair style. He just looked a little bit frazzled is all. Shaking like a leaf, with his heart rate going crazy according to Zim’s antenna. The paranoid kid was even more paranoid. Wonderful .

Once Dib processed the situation, he quickly got off of Zim and backed toward the kitchen wall, giving the invader some space. Now that Zim looked closely, the boy had some form of a gun lying weak within his hand’s grasp.

Zim sourly got up, brushing the dirt from the kitchen floor off of him in disgust. Dib, still processing everything from across the room, huffed and pointed the gun at Zim.

“What do you want Zim?!” He huffed in sudden defense.

Zim caught sight of the weapon pointed at him and rolled his eyes, flattening his antenna. “I came to get you, you imbecile! This virus is plaguing the stupid humans one by one. Soon you’ll get it and I’m the only one that gets to kill my enemy! ME!”

Dib lowers his gun, eyes shrinking into narrow slits, “That’s the stupidest logic I’ve ever heard in my entire life.”

“NO IT’S NOT IT’S PERFECTLY GOOD LOGIC,” Zim screeches back.

Dib merely rolls his eyes without comment. He makes his way to a nearby cabinet and reaches in, pulling out a granola bar. He then makes his way to another cabinet and pulls out a map before sitting himself down at the table. His gun lays discarded on the table next to his elbow as he looks over the map, trying his best to ignore the alien. He is rudely interrupted when gloves hands slam down onto the table causing a bang to resound around the house. Dib glares up at the ruby orbs above him from behind the map. 

“You will come with Zim at once!” Zim says, confidence in every symbol.

“I- what ?!” Dib asked.

“I’m getting off of this stupid rock. Are you coming or not?”

“I can’t.”

Zim’s confusion is apparent on his face, “Eh? Why not?!”

Dib bites his lip, “Well a captain goes down with his ship, right?!” He lets out a nervous laugh. “But that’s not the only reason…” 

Zim made a ‘ go on ’ gesture with his hand, and Dib got just the tiniest bit giddy from having a person wanting to willingly listen to him. Even if that person just so happens to be his alien arch-nemesis.

The boy throws down the map from his hands onto the table. “Ok, so, you know how this outbreak has been going on for a few days before it got out of control?”

Zim nods.

“Great! Ok, so, my dad was busy working at home trying to come up with a cure in his lab. He told Gaz and me to stay in the house but I kinda snuck out to hunt for big-foot… Anyway, the outbreak went nuts within our city in the next few hours I was out in the woods, so when I eventually made it home… they were gone. The house was empty. T-they left without me.”

Dib goes silent after that for a few moments, and Zim can’t help but pity the human. He’s been ostracized from his peers forever. Everyday Dib tries to warn them of things their little minds can’t comprehend, and then he’s the one getting ridiculed and beaten and called crazy. All Dib seeks in return is validation. Something Zim has also longed for his whole life. 

Dib takes a bite from his granola bar and pokes at the map before him, “No worries, though! I have a plan. You see, my dad owns a bunker in this town over here out of the city.” He points to a section circled on the map with a crudely drawn Membrane and Gaz, “They have to be staying there.” 

Zim squints at the map, “So?”

Dib rolls his eyes, “ So , I’m going to go find them.”

Zim feels his stomach drop with just the thought of Dib going out into an apocalypse on his own. He would 100% die. And, of course he knew this, not because he actually cared about Dib or anything, but because that was supposed to be his life to kill!

Zim crosses his arms, “I knew humans were stupid, but you have to be the most moronic one of all. Is that why your head is so big?! Is it merely filled with goo???” Zim pokes at Dib’s head, immediately getting swatted away.

“Oh shut up , Zim!” Dib grinds his teeth, getting up from the table not even bothering to pick up the granola wrapper. He pockets the map and goes to a nearby closet located in the hallway. “Jesus, even in a freaking zombie apocalypse you can’t seem to stop talking.”

Zim groans in annoyance, “Whatever. Can’t you just leave them?!”

There’s some rustling from the closet, indicating Dib going through the items. His head pops out from behind the hallway corner to face the alien for a split second before once again returning out of eyesight, “They’re my family, Zim. I love them.”

“Oh yes, because they must have also shared your “love” sooo much as to just leave you here.” The rustling from the closet promptly stopped, and now silence took the two boys. Zim cursed himself for opening his mouth. He of all people knew Dib’s relationship with his family and how it got to the human.

The silence went on for what seemed like hours, and Zim was actually starting to panic if he had broken him.

Fortunately, he heard a tired sigh from the boy as the rustling started up again. “Listen Zim, I’m going to find my family whether you like it or not. So, I suggest you get off this planet before this pandemic gets any worse.”

Dib once again comes back into the kitchen now accompanied with a sleeping bag and backpack. He reaches into the cabinets and pulls out a variety of canned foods and starts stuffing the bag.

Zim lets out a dramatic groan, which Dib tries to ignore with a grimace. “You stupid stupid little human! I don’t think you understand the MONSTERS wanting to DEVOUR YOUR FLESH AS WE SPEAK!!!” Zim screams, thrusting a clawed finger into Dib’s chest.

The human doesn’t even bat an eye at the alien as he pushes away the claw, “I’ll have you know I’ve been preparing for this day my entire life!!! I know everything there is to know. I’ve even accidentally raised the dead once, er, but that’s beside the point.” He continues to babble, “I mean, look at all this food!” He gestures to the sea of canned food in the cabinet. “And Gaz said I was being paranoid… Ha! I bet she feels silly now.” 

Dib ceases shoving the food into the backpack and zips over to a cabinet under the sink containing water bottles. Zim just watches the boy, “This is a death wish, you know. Your stupid human body is going to be bleeding out on a sidewalk somewhere with your innards hanging out in less than a day.”

Dib rolls his eyes, “Then I guess I’ll die.”

“Wh- ZIM IS OFFERING YOU AN ESCAPE AND YOU WOULD RATHER DIE?! YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE-” Zim screeches, but then gets cut off by a thin hand over his mouth muffling his speech.

“Shut up . Jesus, you’re so loud,” Dib removes his hand and bares his teeth. “Do you want to draw whatever is out there to us?!”

Zim immediately shuts his trap at the reminder of the creatures waiting for them outside. Dib sighs, and goes back to kneeling beside the cabinet and putting water bottles into the bag. “Listen Zim, nothing you say is going to make me come with you.”

Zim’s antenna drop. Of course Dib would be difficult. When Dib put his mind to something, he was never one to quit. He was as stubborn as an ox, and Zim was sure that wasn't going to change anytime soon. So… what should he do? He wanted to get off this stupid rock, that was a definite, but something was, again, holding him back...

He stood idly as Dib tried to shove a first aid kit into the bag filled to the brim with water bottles and food. He wants Dib to come with him, and honestly, he was almost to the brink of just straight-up kidnapping him. But then Dib would probably be all schmoopy and sad, and Dib was annoying when he was sad. Maybe there was another option…? 

Zim fiddled with his gloves, feeling awkward and out of place for one of the few times in his life. He then took a breath and puffed out his chest, strutting over to where Dib was kneeling on the floor. “Zim is coming with you.”

Dib eyes the invader, and then his mouth falls open in surprise. “ What???”

“Are you deaf?! Zim says he will be accompanying you on your family finding quest… thingy.” He waves his hand in a nonchalant manner.

Dib leans closer to the Irken from his place on the floor, his eyes are wide, “Really? Why-?”

“ZIM DOES WHAT HE PLEASES.” he announces, tired of Dib’s questioning.

Dib springs up from the floor. He tries to hide his excitement at the new news. “Alright,” he says backing up towards the stairs, “stay here.”

Zim hears the clunk of the boy's footsteps go up the stairs and into his room. There are a few bangs from upstairs, but then Zim hears footsteps returning back down the stairs. Dib must have been really excited because Zim hears a loud series of thunks going down the stairwell and then a small “ow” from Dib. Zim cringes from the other room. This stupid human just fell down the stairs, how does he expect to survive a zombie apocalypse???

Dib walks back into the kitchen and throws something made of cloth at Zim. The invader growls, and then grabs the fabric and lifts it up to investigate. It seemed to be a hoodie with a red similar to the one of his invader uniform. Zim looks back up to the boy with a confused expression.

Dib shrugs, carrying a hoodie similar to Zim’s but blue and sporting a picture of a cartoony-looking ghost. “It’s almost Winter. It’s just going to get colder and colder out and I don’t feel like freezing to death.”

Zim considers this for a moment, before pulling on the hoodie over his uniform. It was soft. Definitely something that would keep his body heat in at least a bit. The hoodie also had the familiar scent of Dib. It was almost perfect, until… “There’s no room for Zim’s pak.” 

Dib rolls his eyes, “Geez, not even a thank you. Figure it out, bug.”

Zim frowns and suddenly shoots his pak legs out, piercing the delicate fabric. Dib flinches a bit at the movement, which Zim returns with a smirk. The metallic spider legs rip the remaining fabric so that the pak can now fit through the opening and into the open air. The invader puts the legs away and then stands there with a triumphant expression.

After the initial shock, Dib merely scoffs. He once again takes out the map and dumps it on the table. “Ok, so, I was thinking if you’re coming along can’t you fly us there in your spaceship?”

Zim follows the boy to the table to look at the map and puts a hand on his chin. “Unfortunately, no. I’m running low on fuel and have just enough to make it to a refueling station just outside of your galaxy. I would ask for more supplies from my Tallest, but your stupid human power has gone out.”

“Wait, you used our power sources?”

“ Only a portion! And I only resort to using it because Zim is too far away from the Armada at the moment.” Zim hisses as a defense.

Dib sighs, “Alright. I guess we’re walking, then.” He grabs the map once again and then goes to shove more miscellaneous stuff into the backpack. He attaches the sleeping bag to the top of it and shrugs the bag onto his shoulders. “And you might want to start packing.”


	2. Abandoning the Remnant of Youth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two make their way out of the city

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, the second chapter 
> 
> I’m sorry if the story sometimes randomly disappears off the dash... I’m trying to hide it from someone.... :]

The two boys carefully make their way about the city. They use miscellaneous cars as shields and hiding spots. The city is probably the worst place to be in a zombie apocalypse; lots of people to be infected, and almost no hiding spots. Thankfully, they seem to be making it through fairly quickly. The city’s actually been quite dead. No people  _ and  _ no zombies. Of course there’d be one here or there, but  _ nothing  _ what Dib or Zim were expecting.

The two slammed into the side of a car, checking their surroundings for any sign of a threat. Zim honestly wanted to take this seriously, but it was hard when Dib kept making spy movie references.

Dib was now currently speaking into his trench coat, seemingly speaking into a walky-talky that Zim couldn’t see. “Yes, this is agent moth man at ‘uh oh’ avenue. Mhm, yes, oh? What’s that? There’s a zombie right in front of me? Well, haha, I’ll take care of em’.” Dib cautiously looks over the car hood before drawing his laser gun and making little “pew pew” sounds with his mouth.

Zim narrows his eyes at the act, “This is  _ precisely  _ why Zim did not trust you to go out alone,” Zim growls.

Dib stops himself from his ‘firing’ and turns to look at Zim with a huff. “Oh,  _ please.  _ I think I’m doing an amazing job so far, thank you very much.” He spins the gun with his finger in between the trigger and the handle and accidentally hits himself in the head. “Ow.”

“Just quit it! And where did you even get that?”

“Oh this?” Dib holds up the gun again, “I found it in my dad’s lab after he and Gaz both left. Pretty cool, right?”

Zim rolls his eyes, “Far from it.”

Dib lets out a sigh, before Zim rushes off to go behind another car. Dib follows begrudgingly behind. 

“So when will we be out of this stupid Urth city?” Zim asks, glancing around his surroundings.

Dib takes out his map and reads it for a moment, “We should be out soon, just a few more roads. Then we can travel through the forest instead of the open road. That’ll probably be more efficient, and faster.”

Zim nods, and moves behind another abandoned car ahead of them. Dib mirrors the invader’s movements, looking around again. They keep like this for a while, Dib now avoiding his theatrics so he doesn’t get stabbed by one of Zim’s pak legs. But a question is still gnawing at his brain.

“Hey, Zim? Why did you want to come along anyw-“ a hand is swiftly put over his mouth. He furrowed his eyebrows and looks to Zim. He throws the hand off of him.

“What were your human words? ‘Do you  _ want  _ to lead whatever is out there to us?’” Zim smirks at his quote, ‘ _ perfect Irken memory,’  _ and scurries away to the next car ahead of them. Dib, once again, follows.

The boy sees the Irken beside him cringe while peering over the hood, “What  _ are  _ those things anyway?”

Dib pushes the alien to the side not-so lightly (ignoring Zim’s growl) and gasps, looking at two zombies not even ten feet away from them. The two boys duck below eye-view and Dib takes a breath in. “Ok, so, I’ve studied zombies before, and I  _ knew  _ this was going to happen someday, so you’re asking the right person.”

“You humans have had this ‘ _ zombie _ ’ problem before?” Zim asks, tilting his head.

“Well, no… but just listen! They’re basically just reanimated corpses from beyond the grave lurking around. They’re  _ dead _ , they’re not people anymore. Just a shell.”

Zim simply nods.

“Ok, so, summary, a zombie’s main goal is to infect another person, which can be done through a bite. The only way to kill a zombie is through the brain. That will shut down all the nerves and they’ll go limp,” Dib whispers.

The alien strokes his chin, “So you are giving Zim permission to kill these meat-bags?”

Dib slunks down, “Yes… But only the zombies! If we see any other survivors we leave them be.”

“Yes, yes, you and your stupid ‘morals’. Well, the Dib-monkey does NOT tell Zim what to do, so therefore this does not apply to me.” Zim finished crossly, crossing his arms.

Dib lets out a groan. “You’re…  _ insufferable.  _ If you’re going to tag along we need to have some type of truce so we don’t end up killing each other in cold blood.”

Zim lets out a long and exaggerated sigh.

“Zim, seriously, I know this is going to be horrible, but we’re going to need to work together if we want to survive.” Dib offers a hand to Zim for him to shake. Zim eyes the hand, seemingly mulling over Dib’s words. 

He suddenly smacks Dib’s hand away and a growl bubbles in his throat, “Invader’s do not need  _ ANYONE  _ or  _ ANYTHING  _ to survive. This is your battle, anyways. Zim is just coming with you to laugh when you have your human innards ripped out of your stomach.”

The boy has a strange expression on his face. A combination of irritation, sadness, and fear. It’s strange to see. Zim hates it. Dib seems to catch himself, though, because his pained expression quickly turns into a scowl. “You know what? Fine. Be the narcissistic space-cockroach that you are.” He pushes himself up from their little ‘pep talk’ position behind the car, and stands up facing the two zombies. He prepared his gun, “I’ve got the one on the left.”

The human hastily rushes in, and Zim curses to himself. Classic Dib move: no plan in sight. Zim takes out a laser gun of his own from his PAK and rushes after the zombies, running after Dib. 

Following Dib’s advice, Zim aims at one zombie’s head and pulls the trigger. He quickly smiled in triumph when it came crashing to the ground afterwards. He turns to Dib, finding his zombie taken down as well. The boy smiles at the alien. “See? Easy,” he says striding around the corpses.

Zim kneels to the ground, examining the bodies. “So these humans really are deceased,” he says feeling the peeling cold skin on the corpse.

“Well, yeah. They’ve already started to rot. The only thing keeping them moving are the nerves in the brain,” Dib shrugs.

Dib has been… calm. Calmer than Zim had anticipated. There is a killer human-virus going around, he has been abandoned by his “family”,  _ and  _ he’s basically lost the Earth. But oddly enough… he has been acting the same as he always has. The strangest thing he’s done yet was kill another human. Deceased or not, he was fine with it, which Zim finds…  _ unnerving  _ for Dib. But… Now's not the time for monologuing about Dib’s confusing mental state. 

Zim squints his eyes in sudden skepticism, “Aren't you concerned about contracting this nerve-virus?” 

“Pffft, nahhhhh. We’ll get to my dad before any of that and he’ll be able to fix this. He’s the smartest person on Earth, y’know,” Dib says pocketing his gun in his trench coat. “Now come on space-bug, we need to get going before it gets dark.”

Zim was skeptical for a moment, but quickly gets up from beside the corpse and makes his way alongside Dib throughout the city.

———

It was only a matter of time before the two boys found their way to the city’s end. The buildings thinned out and the abandoned cars strayed less and less. 

The pair eventually stopped in front of a fork in the road seemingly in the middle of nowhere (even though Zim swore they only just got out of the city five minutes ago). There were tall pine trees all around them with a few other types of stray trees starting to have the last of their leaves fall off. Zim specifically remembers Dib taking a deep breath of the “fresh air” before leading them in the right direction. Zim really didn’t understand the meaning of “fresh air”. If the humans made the city air all mucky and shmopy than that was on them. If they wanted all of this “fresh air” than they should just update their supplies to make less smog.  _ Stupid humans.  _

They walked side by side on the right side of the abandoned street. There wasn’t much conversation, which was weird because Dib usually had a hard time  _ shutting up.  _ Whatever. What were enemies supposed to talk about anyway? 

Whenever Zim would catch a glimpse at Dib, he would always have his eyes glued to the map. He looks concentrated, and all for this  _ “ _ family” nonsense. Irken’s have no such thing! Every Irken is to serve the armada since the day they hatch out of their pod. Having any “special” connections with other Irkens is banned. It’s  _ especially  _ prohibited with any other alien life forms unless in some kind of alliance, but that alliance can only happen if it benefits the empire. Any Irken that goes against those rules could be de-paked and marked as defective! And what would the world be without the great Zim?!  _ Stupid Dib. _

When the sun finally started to set, and before they were suddenly plunged into darkness, Dib decided that they should set up camp somewhere in the woods. Deep enough so that they were away from the road, but close enough that they could get back on it and follow their route if they needed to. 

Zim complained first and wanted to keep going in hopes they would get there faster, but Dib insisted. And when Dib insists, he wouldn’t give up on getting what he wants. But then it hits Zim, Dib is only human. He can’t see in the dark, he can’t walk for hours and he has to  _ sleep.  _ All things Zim can do just fine.

Besides, Zim knows Dib can function better when he’s recharged. The alien remembers all the times Dib would come to school on 2-4 hours of sleep and chug a cup of coffee in hopes of getting the little boost of energy that he needed. Zim inquired about this once, but Dib didn’t really give a clear reply. Something about a combination of “in-zombna” or something and this thing called “restless legs?” Zim had no idea what those even meant, but if they were affecting the way his human functioned it couldn’t be good.

They hiked into the woods, finding a small clearing with only a few spots of forest brush around them. They both collected a decent amount of firewood and were able to light a makeshift fire with a few spare matches Dib had brought. 

The two settled down on the forest floor. Dib sat on his sleeping bag, leaning his back against a tree behind him. He was busily writing in what seemed to be some type of notebook. Zim watched his hand with the pen go almost a mile a minute as the embers of the fire flickered across Dib’s face. 

Zim’s face contorted into a sullen frown, as Dib continued to write endlessly, “What on  _ Irk  _ are you doing?”

Dib didn’t even look up from the notebook. “I’m journaling,” he replied flatly.

Zim rolled his eyes at the response. “And?”

Dib stopped his scrawling and looked up at the alien from across the fire, “I’m just kind of jotting my thoughts down.”

“Why?”

“You sure are inquisitive today, bug,” Dib says, beginning to slide the journal back into a small pocket on the side of his backpack. “Besides, if the whole human race decides to die out, maybe some other alien can find this and know we were here.” It sounds like Dib is trying to make some kind of joke, but Zim honestly can’t tell through the boy’s gritted teeth and stiff expression. “Well, that and I just like to vent stuff out.”

Zim squints his eyes, “What stuff?”

“Y’know what? How about you shut up,” Dib says, flicking a plastic spoon he used to eat his canned beans prior at the aliens face. Zim easily ducks his head out of the way of the projectile, but much to his dismay, the spoon bounces off the tree behind him and hits him in the back of his skull. 

Zim lets out a growl, rubbing the back of his head. “You stupid human! Zim is just  _ trying  _ to let you talk about your human feelings!” 

“Well I don’t  _ want  _ to talk about my _ “human feelings.”  _ Especially with aliens trying to take over the world!” Dib huffs, leaning more into the tree behind him.

“You are  _ unbearable,”  _ the alien picks the discarded plastic spoon up from beside him and holds it up, “Zim can’t take this ABUSE!!!” He then chucks it into the fire, watching it burn and bubble into black soot. He chuckles to himself, watching the spoon melt and live out the last of it’s plastic skull-abusing days.

Dib stares at the Irken in irritation.

Zim must know of Dib’s disgruntlement, because he looks up from the fire and at the human with a huge grin. “I wish that were you”

“Go to Hell,” Dib says, getting up from his position on the sleeping bag. He does some stretches, and then goes to eye Zim. “I’ll take the first watch.”

“What??? WHY?!”

“Well I THOUGHT you would need to time SLEEP… or something.”

Zim springs up from his sleeping bag as well, “HA! Fool boy. We Irken’s are FAR superior than any of you stupid humans. We do not require any of this “sleep”. Zim thought you knew this by now.”

Dib stutters, “W-well  _ yeah,  _ but…  _ anyways,  _ I’m not going to sleep when my enemy could  _ pulverise  _ me at any minute!”

“Dib, if I wanted to kill you I would have done so ages go,” Zim cackles darkly.

Dib thinks to himself for a moment, and sighs to himself, “Fine.” The boy crawls into his sleeping bag knowing damn well he won’t be able to sleep at all anyways. He hears Zim taking out his Pak legs and scaling up a tree a few feet away. He smirks to himself from where he’s laying on the ground, and closes his eyes.

“Hey Space-boy.”

“What is it?!” He hears the alien call back.

“You have a super-poisonous spider on your back right now.”

There’s a pause, before Dib hears a few signature screeches from Zim. He hears a loud thump at the foot of the tree Zim was climbing and then the sounds of the Irken running around the makeshift camp sight frantically. 

He eventually comes to a halt, and at this point Dib is trying his best not to burst out laughing. He keeps his eyes clamped shut and his body still, feeling Zim’s death stare on him.

“There was no super-poisonous spider, was there?”

Dib smiled, “Nope.”

There’s a growl from Zim, before he goes to scale the tree once again. Dib tried his best to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn’t as in depth as I wanted it but ehhh  
> I like to imagine that Dib hasn’t realized the impact of this situation yet. He’s still trying to trick himself into thinking he’s the hero and that he alone will (emphasis on “will”) reunite with his family
> 
> Anyways, slow start but kudos and comments are amazing and always appreciated :)))


	3. Tree House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One memory of human life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I forgot to post this :()

Dib was (thankfully) able to get some sleep last night, but only for a little bit. Oh course it just  _ had  _ to be disrupted. Dib felt something hit him in the head and immediately bolted up from his place on the ground and looked around him. The sun was still down, and ib’s eyes were still heavy with sleep. He stretched, his arms out and earned a content pop.

He looked around the still dimly lit forest. Hmm, no space bug. Strange… he stood up from his place on the sleeping bag and took not even one step before he had something pelted at the top of his head. He looks up, immediately having about five more projectiles thrown at his head. 

Dib sees a familiar set of red eyes and immediately recognizes who he’s talking to. Zim was sitting on a high branch on the tree he had just been sleeping under a moment earlier holding a pile of acorns. He rubs the new sore spot on his head and grumbles. “Zim, what the hell.”

The alien merely snickers to himself, throwing the acorns behind him now that the jig was up. “Finally decided to boot your head out of sleep-mode, Dib?” 

  
  


“It’s called sleeping, Zim. And what time is it???” He called, yawning and brushing the little pieces of stray soil off of his clothes.

Dib hears Zim audibly scoff, the alien’s leg sways off of the branch he’s rested on. “How am I supposed to know your stupid human time-schedule things?!” Zim then turns his gaze away from the boy and back to the sky, “But if you are asking for a rough estimate, I would say about five or four in the morning. You slept a total of about six hours,” Zim gives a mischievous smirk, “a new personal record for you.”

Dib blinks ignoring the previous comments, “Wait… four or five in the  _ morning _ ? It’ll be hours until the sun’s up with daylight savings! Why couldn’t you wake me up later?!?” 

The Irken hastily swoops back down to the forest floor, and joins Dib on the Earthy ground. “I was bored and thought I would practice my throwing aim on your head. It’s gigantic by the way, and doesn't make much of a challenge. PLUS you SAID you wanted to be up early to get a head start, so here’s your early you ungrateful worm!”

Dib let’s out a grumble and starts rolling up his sleeping bag and packing up the makeshift campsite. “Well you should have at least asked me to take an hour or two of watch time. Now you just ended up sitting there for six hours.”

Zim nonchalantly waves his hand, “We did exercises like this for a lot longer than  _ measly hours  _ back in invader training.”

Dib smiles, “Yeah, alright, sure. I’m just surprised you can stay in one place that long.”

Zim makes some kind of growling noise at him, to which Dib ignores it and takes out his map. They still had a long way to go, and Dib  _ prayed  _ he had packed enough food for himself. He didn’t think Zim needed to eat…? Well, he doesn’t eat Earth food, so Dib guessed whatever Zim ate was Zim’s problem.

Dib scanned the map over and thought aloud, “Ok, so, if we travel on the side of the road again, It means easier travel but more of a chance of being noticed. If we travel in the forest, we have a harder travel but less of a chance of being noticed.” 

Dib turned the map to face Zim, pointing at a small area, “A town is coming up in a few miles, so we would have to go into the woods anyway. I say we go through the forest for a few miles.”

Zim lets out a long over dramatic groan. “Whatever Zim says will not have an effect on the Dib-stink anyway!” He huffs.

The boy smirked, gathering the rest of his things from around the campsite. “Yeah, you’re right, it won’t.”

Honestly, Dib wasn’t sure  _ why  _ Zim was still with him. Zim has to put up with his bullshit  _ and  _ worry about zombies. Why did he even come with Dib again? Whatever the reason, Dib was silently grateful to have someone with him. Honestly if he were alone with his thoughts 24/7 he’d probably be dead by now. But of course, Zim just has to keep him stumbling on. In fact, a Dib doesn’t even know how he  _ is still stumbling on.  _ For all he knows his family is dead. But, that worry and dread is pushed away by pure hope.  _ They’re in the bunker and they’re waiting for you. _

Dib got the last of his things and nodded to himself. “Alright, we’re good. Let’s go.”

The two started their trek again. With Dib oddly silent and Zim’s antennas going absolutely batshit with all the sounds of the forest. In fact, it looked so sporadic that Dib started to chuckle a bit. He quickly stopped when Zim started to give him the death stare, not wanting to get into another fight. 

_ That’s another thing!  _ They haven’t gotten into a fistfight once this whole trip. It was… weird. If Zim started one, Dib wouldn’t hesitate to fight back. But the thing was… Zim hasn’t started one. Dib couldn’t quite pinpoint why that was, maybe Zim understood that they needed to be in their best health in order to get past the zombies? Either way, it was weird and hard for Dib to picture.

———

They’ve walked a few miles by now and not a thing in sight. Though they've fallen down a  _ few  _ ditches, they were still doing fine. 

Zim glances over at Dib, who currently has his face buried in the map as he walked. Zim silently hoped the stupid human would walk into a tree while not paying attention. Now,  _ that would _ be funny. Zim smirks to himself picturing the event playing out. 

But after coming out of his head space, Zim once again glanced at Dib. He looked so… melancholy. His face looked worn and tired even though Zim was so careful to give him the extra sleep that his human had been lacking for so long. Dib just looked… shmoopy. Whether he was doing it unconsciously or not.

Dib must have noticed Zim’s eyes drilling into the side of his face, because he lowers the map and stares back at the alien before uttering a hesitant, “What?” There’s an annoyed tone, but an equally shaky voice.

Zim stops his wide-eyes staring after a moment and quickly contorts it into a scowl. Faint blush of embarrassment silently kept onto his cheeks. “Nothing. Zim is just thinking about how  _ slow  _ the Dib-thing is going!” He says waving his arms in a theatrical manner.

“Alright, geez.” Dib says as he picks up his pace a bit.

There was another silence, until Dib spoke up. “Hey, what’s that?”

Zim looks up from where he had now basically glued his eyes to the toe of his boot. Ahead of them lies a large structure nestled within the trees. It looks fairly worn down, perhaps not even structurally sound at all. In fact, it looked like it was about to fall over with a single gust of wind. “Moldy Earth wood?” Zim asked in a bored manner.

“Well, in a way I guess, yes, but… no Zim! It’s a  _ treehouse  _ you doof!” Dib says, taking a running start and kicking up the dead autumn leaves around him.

“DIB-STUPID WAI-“ Zim groaned at the boy’s antiquite response to potential danger. The alien drags himself after Dib and stands at the foot of the rotting “tree-structure”.

“Hey  _ Zim,  _ why don’t you join me?” Dib calls from a small makeshift wooden window out to the Irken below with a shit-eating grin. “There’s plenty of room~”

Zim lets out a low hiss, arching his antenna back against his head. “This structure is  _ obviously  _ not able to support us. It barely even supports your huge head! When this comes toppling over, Zim is not going to put your pieces back together again.”

“Aww, come on!” Dib calls again, “Don’t you want to see the many secrets Earth has to offer in here.  _ So many~...• _

Zim rolls his eyes, crossing his arms and shifting his weight. “Zim thought the Dib urgently wanted to reunite with his family?”

Dib rests his elbow on the rotting windowsill, “Well,  _ yeah,  _ but…  _ Woah, what’s that?!” _ Something catches Dib’s eye from within the tree house, and the boys head disappears from the small window frame. 

Zim facepalms, “You are very easily distracted, do you know that?”

_ Silence  _

“Dib-smell, are you ignoring Zim?!”

_ Silence _

__ Zim snarled and started climbing the small fractured ladder up to the treehouse opening. He quickly got to the top, peering over the plank floor and at the paranormal investigator. 

Dib was sitting at a small table that was probably ten times too small with a chair that was probably  _ twenty  _ times too tiny. There was a miniature set of teacups and plates laid out upon the table with various patterns. Dib was staring at Zim with a dopey grin and held an equally small teapot in his hands.

In his stupidest sounding British accent he says, “Oh! Why Zim! How thoughtful of you to show up to my party.” He hands Zim a small teacup and tips the teapot into it making ‘tea noises’. Much to their surprise, a mound of dust comes out from the nose and into the teacup. Dib stares at it. “Ew.”

Zim stares down at the cup and then back at Dib, “Why are you like this?”

The boy lets out a chuckle at that, “Sadly, I have no idea.”

There is a silence, and Dib gets up from the doll chair to join a now standing-upright Zim. Zim doesn’t miss the look of wonder Dib’s eyes glisten with as he examines the room closer. Though, Zim doesn’t see anything special. It’s just all trash and rotting wood.

Dib is looking wide eyed at polaroid photos hung up on the wall. He unclips one from the strings attached to and cradles it in his hand. “Can you believe what stories could have taken place here?” He asks in a solem tone.

Zim comes up from behind Dib to see the photo he had taken down. It’s two kids. One girl and one boy. They seem happy, posing and laughing into the camera lense.

Dib smiles to himself, “Someone’s  _ life  _ was spent here. It feels personal, like I’m not supposed to be here. Like I’m  _ intruding  _ or something…”

Zim tilts his head in a bored expression, “And so what if it was? Their life is pointless anyway, condemned to this little planet. You humans are tiny compared to the universe. A mere speck.”

“So what if we are? You invaded my ‘tiny human life’ didn’t you?” Dib shot back. He looked back at the photos, “Isn’t it weird though? Seeing people that could be dead for all we know act so lively…”

Humans were so complicated. Why was Dib acting so sentimental to these humans? Humans he doesn’t even  _ know.  _

Zim shifted his weight, taking in the solemn atmosphere. The wood creaked under his weight. “Psh, Zim did not  _ intentionally _ want to interact with the Dib-thing. Zim simply wanted to complete his mission. And I would have  _ done so _ if it wasn’t for you and your stupid meddling head!” 

“Wow, nice job with the past tense,” Dib replies with a cheeky grin.

“What?”

“Whaaaaat?” Dib says, waltzing around the treehouse. Zim growls, and then goes to investigate as well. There wasn’t much within the small perimeter. Mostly just human-smeet toys and dust. There was a small trunk tucked away in the corner that quickly earned Zim’s attention.

The Irken struts over to the chest and unlatches it with ease. He slowly opens the lid, and… it’s just a toy rabbit. A fairly beat up one, too. 

Zim cringes in disgust at the tattered thing. Zim hears heavy footsteps coming his way but barely has time to react before being pushed aside by Dib.

“No  _ way!!!”  _ Dib shouted, lunging for the rabbit. “I had one of these when I was a kid!”

Zim brushed himself off after being pushed by Dib. “What???”

“When I was little I had a rabbit exactly like this!” He nuzzels the rabbit to his face and Zim gags. 

“You’re going to get dust in your pitiful and smelly lungs, idiot!” He grabs the rabbit and goes to return it to its tomb.

“ _ WAIT-“  _ Dib says, snatching the rabbit back. “I’m keeping this.” He says shoving the poor tattered thing into his backpack.

“That waste of cloth and buttons? Why?!”

Dib smiles to himself and heads to the ladder, “Because it makes me happy.”

Zim gives an agitated frown and twitches his antenna in thought. He takes one final look at the excuse of a ‘tree-base’, and recedes down the ladder close behind Dib. 

_ Dib Membrane. You are much too solicitous of others whom you do not even know. Why are you attached and sentimental to strangers? On Irk, that sort of compassion will get you killed. On Irk you would see thousands of your own kind be slaughtered a day. On Irk you would be  _ **_dead,_ ** _ Dib-stink. _

_ Terrible soldier material. But I’m guessing you’ve proved them wrong, right Dib? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was hesitant to post this one, seeing as I haven't fully figured out what I was going to do to bring everything to a close yet. This kind of acted as a filler to help keep the story not too short, heh.


	4. Set-back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternative Title: Now Walking the Line of Starvation (Because My Stupid Alien Friend)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. Sorry for the sporadic posting times. I WOULD make a schedule if I trusted myself to post on time... BUT I don't so that's why we're here :). Yikes we're catching up to where I stopped writing in advance so I should probably hurry up and write more-

The rest of the day went on as usual, the two trekking on for hours with minimal breaks and then resting for the night. The two, again, set up a mini bonfire and laid out their sleeping bags around either side. Dib was basically the same, doodling away in his journal, but now with the addition of the stuffed rabbit nestled within his arms. Zim had to admit it was a  _ little  _ cute.

Soon, Dib grew tired and fell asleep. Which Zim was, again,  _ thankful for  _ with all the little sleep the human usually got. 

Though, it was always boring when Dib slept. There was nothing to do but wait for him to awaken again, but… then again it was interesting. Dib’s features looked different when he was asleep. They were relaxed, and Zim could see all the creases in his face. It was also strange seeing Dib without his glasses for so long. Zim should do something with those devices someday… they allow Dib sight, so maybe someday Zim should hide them and laugh at Dib’s failure. That sounds fun!

Zim watches from his place on his sleeping bag as Dib’s chest rises and falls. It would be so easy to pierce through that paper thin skin of his. To make him bleed amazingly crimson red all over the forest floor. All it takes is one pak leg through the chest, but Zim finds… he just can’t do it. It’s funny, only a couple years ago Zim would have happily killed Dib in a heartbeat. If he did, maybe he would have completed his mission and earned the tallests’ favor! But now… it’s different. It doesn’t feel right, and frankly, Zim doesn’t know what’s holding him back. 

Irkens don’t get attached to things, let alone random aliens from nowhere planets. And still… Zim inched around the fire and to Dib’s sleeping form. 

Dib is a strange creature. He doesn’t act like these other stupid Earth meat-bags. He’s intelligent and quick-witted. Out of all the smelly creatures, he was the only one to see through his brilliant disguise. Infact, he almost acts  _ Irken _ at times, and maybe if he was Irken things would be different. But he’s  _ not  _ Irken, and that could never change. The two were on different sides: One to protect, and the other the conquer. Though, now that Dib’s planet was basically dying, Zim had to wonder what was to come next for both of them.

He continued to stare down at the human until a crackle from the fire caught his attention. The light was slowly depleting, making the forest around them turn cool and dim once again. Zim huffed, standing from his spot and observing the fire more. He would have to search for more firewood. Should he tell Dib he was going out…? 

He cranes his head over to the boys sleeping form. 

No, Dib deserved his human-sleep. Zim would be back in no time with the stupid fire-fuel. And with that, he disappeared into the night.

________

He couldn’t have been gone for more than fifteen minutes. Zim began trudging back to the sorry excuse of a campsite with fire wood in hand when he heard a voice. Dib’s voice, perhaps? His antenna tilted in the direction ahead of him. 

It  _ was  _ Dib’s voice, but it sounded angry and annoyed. Annoyed at what? Who was the Dib-beast talking to! Zim hastily came back to the campsite in time to see Dib halfway up a tree, with a huge badger at the base. His bag of supplies hung dangerously off his shoulder, dangling closely to the creature's mouth. Zim didn’t want to hold back on his chuckle.

Getting the boy’s attention, he frowned. “Zim! Where were you?! You said you were taking watch.” He loses his grip on the bark, and quickly readjusts and pulls himself up.

“It’s not like Zim abandoned you, stupid. In fact, Zim decided to be merciful and go out to gather more of the fire-fuel so that your inferior flesh-body wouldn’t freeze!” The alien unceremoniously dumped the pile of twigs onto the soot that now resembled the once lively fire. “YOU’RE WELCOME.”

Dib merely huffed, rolling his eyes at the alien’s antics. “I THINK I HAVE KNEW PROBLEMS NOW.” He tilts his head in the direction of the animal below, “Thanks to you a bunch of raccoons came and basically took all the food!!! And by the time I finally woke up, this huge freaking badger came in and I had to try and wrestle the bag from it!”

Zim let out a bold and amused laughter at the boy’s situation again, continuing to go unnoticed by the honey badger. Either that or it didn’t notice or care.

The Irken points, “The Dib-thing has chased himself up a tree and is asking the obviously far superior Zim for  _ help _ ?” He purses his lips and crosses his arms waiting for an answer. Any way for Dib to admit Zim is better, will and  _ shall  _ be used to fuel the invaders ego.

Dib blew a few stray hairs out of his eyes. He loses his footing a bit and man-hugs the tree harder. “FINE, I need your help…”

“WHAT?”

Dib glowers, “Get your alien ass over here and get this thing away from me  **now.”**

Meh, not as good as  _ ‘yes Zim you are one hundred percent the best alien invader ever and way better than a stupid stink-monkey like me could ever be!’  _ As Zim had hoped Dib would say, but he decided he’d spare the human this round. Because yes, Zim was also a very merciful future leader of Urth. Very merciful, yes.

The alien struts closer to the tree Dib was in and the honey badger attacking the bark below and slowly making it’s way up towards Dib. The creature didn’t even seem to notice Zim approach, and instead kept all it’s focus and attention into getting the remaining food out of Dib’s bag. 

Zim nonchalantly took one of the remaining cans of food out of Dib’s backpack, earning the beast's attention. The alien then chucked the can  _ far  _ into the forest. The badger sprang from its place on the tree and disappeared into the forest brush.

Zim stood proudly at his obviously brilliant plan he just carried out, but it went unnoticed by Dib.

_ “Shit,”  _ he said aloud through gritted teeth as he hopped down from the tree’s bark and onto solid ground. He sunk to the ground and dug through the bag’s contents, doing some sort of inventory check. He stopped after a moment and let out an annoyed sigh, “ _ Great. Just  _ **_lovely_ ** _.” _

Zim tilted his head at the boy, “What? What is it???”

Dib stood up from his knees and once again slugged the bag over his shoulder, “Oh nothing, just that 3/4s of the food just disappeared and we’re still not even close to my dad’s bunker. This is all your fault you stupid-ass alien!”

Zim let out a theatrical gasp at the accusation, “This is not Zim’s fault! Like I said before, I was doing you a favor by getting fire fuel, Earth-boy!”

“I don’t think firewood is going to be any help when I die from starvation.” Dib seethed, looking as though he was trying his best not to punch the alien square in the face right at that very moment. 

The boy took a breath, trying to pull himself back to a calmer state of mind. “You know what? Whatever, it’s fine. We can just stick closer to the road and see if any rest stops or something we can scope out comes up while we’re travelling. Easy peasy.” He goes to the place he was laying down prior and starts rolling up his now very messy sleeping bag.

Zim’s antenna twitch, “Are we leaving now? You have only been asleep for about three measly human-hours.”

Dib ties the sleeping bag onto his backpack and grabs any remaining items that may have flown out of his bag in the prior scuffle. “Might as well, I’m wide awake now. Plus it’s always good to get some extra ground covered when we can.”

The alien simply nodded, but inwardly groaned. When Dib was tired he was slower and his reflexes weren’t as on point. They were still good, just not as great as Dib’s full potential. That’s why Zim wasn’t surprised at all when about an hour into their trek, Dib slipped from the top of a small ditch all the way to the bottom which just so happend to contain a small creek.

Of course, Zim ended up laughing at Dib’s incompetence. Infact, he was so busy wheezing at Dib’s fall that he didn’t notice when Dib hiked up from the ditch to him and yanked the alien in after him.

The two tumbled down the mossy hill and into the small stream of water. It was only a few inches deep, but damn did it do nothing to stop the water splash. 

  
  


It was Dib’s turn to laugh now, he giggled as the alien sat baffled in the stream with the water stinging and burning at his skin. With a huff, Zim regained his bearings and splashed a bit of water at Dib’s ankles as a small means of ‘getting him back’.

But Dib just smiled and laughed. And as Dib laughed… Zim felt something warm in his chest. It made him want to laugh with Dib too, but scarily enough, it made him want to stay  _ around  _ the Dib-thing. Of course, Irken soldiers cannot feel attached to anything, that would be a defect in their pak’s code… 

So it can’t be that.

Either way, it’s one of Zim’s best memories. 

It’s also potentially one of Dib’s last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a meh chapter, but keeps things moving I guess.

**Author's Note:**

> Good first start??? Maybe??? Bah, I dunno. This is going to be my longest fic ever so stay tuned!


End file.
